[gpa]

I typically adhere to the 7,500 - 10,000 kms mark for my cars. A few times, I've even changed the oil at the 5,000 kms mark since it had been a year since the last change.

[moralfibre]

I've been religiously replacing engine oil at 5000kms on my Swift. This was the first batch of 3rd generation Swift that did not have a requirement of synthetic oil. Have always used Mobil Delvac MX for replacements. At 80000 kms, the engine has considerable life left in it.

[MaheshY1]

The Beat diesel has seen quite a few revisions with the official oil change interval in its lifetime. Starting with 5k to 15k to 7.5k to finally, the industry standard 10k.

With my 95% highway driving, I found the 7.5k to be ridiculously low but the official interval of 10k is more reasonable and I plan to religiously follow that during the warranty period. Post that, I'm considering dropping it to 7.5k if the odo stands at 6-digit.

The Activa will see a DIY oil change every 3k against the recommended 4k. Every 4th change is planned at ASC at the recommended interval.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by GTO

What oil change interval do you stick to? I think 10,000 kms is the sweet spot.

First off GTO thank you for an expert opinion on probably the most vital and easily the most ignored aspect of car ownership.

Now I have couple of noob questions in this regard and this is particularly with VW's TDI engines:

- This German engine slurps up oil in a really weird manner. At times, there is considerable drop on the measuring stick while after top up and similar usage, the oil levels remain same. So, does topping up the Engine oil often extend the oil changing interval/kms ?

- While changing Engine oils, many experts recommend draining out the existing oil completely before pouring the new one in. Does a complete 'Flushing' also be a part of 'Must Do' list during this procedure?

[H_Dogg72]

I change mine at 7.5--8k kms on my GT TSI. Its synthetic, but due to the excessive redlining and general hooning, I keep the full service interval at 7.5--8k VS the 15k company schedule.

My innova on the other hand that is the beater car is serviced every 10k (With mineral oil no less )

[avikamail]

Honda seems to be the biggest culprit here to make users change oil at a low frequency. Ashamed (where do I hide?) to say I too am at their mercy when it comes to oil change and have been changing oil based on their recommendation!

[iabhishekkumar]

Although the owner's manual on my Ssfari Storme says 15000 kms for an oil change but I make it a point to get the same changes at around 9500 kms to 10000 kms mark.

This ensures that the engine is treated well and it is performing at its very best. This was the case with my Swift too wherein I would go in for oil change at 7500 kms.
Thanks GTO for such a wonderful and informative thread and poll.

Cheers!

[Wanderers]

Hi,

For my cars under warranty, namely Fortuner & Grand i10, I go as per manufacturer's recommendation, which for both cases is 10K. I use mineral oil for Grand i10, which reaches 10K intervals in less than a year.
For Fortuner, I currently use Toyota Synthetic oil (Savsol) and plan to shift to Mobil after warranty expires.

For my old swift, I use Castrol and follow oil change interval as 10K or 1.5 years, whichever is earlier.

[sagarpadaki]

I prefer 1Yr/15000 kms whichever is earlier for the oil change. Do it for two reasons

1.I use Delvac 1 for my i20 diesel which is designed for heavy duty engines operating under harsh conditions. So our harsh conditions are already covered under the oil's capability(Internationally, the big 18 wheeler rigs using this oil maintain a drain interval of around 20K miles(~30K kms )which speaks volumes about the ability of this oil). The Engine remains unbelievably refined even post 10K kms mark.Currently the oil is 14K old and the engine is still very refined and pulls and revvs like how it was on the day one of oil change.

2. Used oil being harmful to the environment, it makes sense to extract the maximum out of the oil before discarding it.

Also it works out cheaper for me to have this drain interval. If i use a mineral oil i should change it @ 5K. Which means in an year i change it 3 times. Assuming cost of 250 Rupees a litre for a good mineral oil it comes to 1250 for 5lts + Oil Filter + labor which will approximately come to 1800 rupees for one change.So yearly it will cost me 5500 bucks to just change the oil and not to mention the time overheads. Besides service centers are usually reluctant to just do an oil change especially if you are getting your own oil.And it is difficult to source original oil filter outside. Instead once a year synthetic costs me around 4.5K for 5 lts.Get it changed during service along with other jobs.Saves a lot of time and headache. Not to mention the additional benefits of smoothness and longevity!

I maintain this interval only because i use this particular synthetic oil. With any other synthetic oil i would have an interval of 10K kms and with mineral around 6K.

[NiInJa]

On an average I change it around 7000 kms, I keep a note of how and where the car has been driven and whether it needs servicing a little earlier. Say, If I've been doing 5000 kms in 8 months only in the city, then I change the oil immediately. This year our diesel car did a lot of highway runs (two-three days of continuous driving at high speeds) but otherwise it was sparingly used in the city, so I am planning to change the oil at the recommended 7500 kms or one year.

[i74js]

I stick to 2 changes in a year (April and October) essentially to keep the car ready for summers and winters.

- I change the viscosity by 5W between summers and winters
- I always make sure that the oil filter is replaced along with changes; I am able to source original filters for both Hyundai as well as Fiat

I am happy with the performance of my cars throughout the year. I have even approached Fiat and Hyundai for these changes. Fiat was happy doing it and I was out in less than an hour, whereas Hyundai SA acted pricey, though did it lateron, but afterwards I have always approached my FNG and got it done for Rs 200 approx with oil filer change.

Cheers

[avdhesh15]

On my new petrol City, the service interval is hilarious. It's 6 months or 10k km! I mean what were they smoking when they made this! Clearly shows they want to earn money in service / labor charges. Since my running is primarily in and around Mumbai, I can't cover 10k in 6 months. Hence I land up going every 8-9 months with 6-7k km to ensure I don't void the warranty. I am one of the customers surely that Honda loves to rip off in the name of "warranty"!

On my Dzire (primarily used by dad for household chores in the vicinity), time wins the battle against kilometers. Case in point - just today I got my 2year/20k km service done with the car having completed only 8k km. The last service was at 6k km so the car ran only 2k in last 1 year!

In my opinion, the sweet spot as mentioned by GTO is around 8-10k km especially if running in typical Indian conditions and that's what I have voted for.

[Ashdel]

I also voted for "Whatever the manufacturer recommends " simply reason being, manufacturer knows the cars they make better than us.

Also for my 2011 Swift Diesel, every time I go for a periodic service, adviser recommends to get the oil changed, however he does not recommend a synthetic engine oil. Reason being the 2011 engine. He mentioned that Swift diesel engines which were made after 2012 needs synthetic oils only, older engines can work with normal oils.

[NST440]

Whatever the manufacturer recommends has always been my mantra since the past 15 years with all the cars i've owned & i have never encountered any issues with that both for car/suv & motorcycle.

I believe in servicing my vehicle from the authorised agency only and have never gone against their recommendations. At the same time i try to sway away from unnecessary things/replacements through which the agency tries to fool the customer, replacing parts unnecessarily just to fill their pockets.

[globemaster]

Honda recommends service at 6 month 10,000 kilometers intervals. However I change my oil at every 6 months. 99% of the time my car eats up around 6 to 7 K Kilometers by that time. I was told by my ASC that the OEM oil for the diesel City is fully synthetic variety. However it costs 1300 for 4 litres. Is this okay?
Bhpians: I read the thread on what oil to use and got totally confused with so many options. I am planning on using Mobil next time.